


What Lies Beyond

by killunary



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 04:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killunary/pseuds/killunary
Summary: Sometimes the damn fool's innocence could cause so much trouble for her.





	What Lies Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'd like to take a second to thank demarcosmp3 for always being kind enough to leave a kudo on my archosie fics.:D I don't want you to feel like I don't see your support so, just thank u very much.:) To all tuning into this fic, I hope y'all enjoy it.:)

Archie made the car come to a stop, he and Veronica now parked in front of her house. Archie smiled as his girlfriend leaned in for a kiss, smiling harder as he slowly moved his lips against her own. He gave her a playful pout when the beauty pulled away, grinning as Veronica giggled while shaking her head at her boyfriend.

           

 

Veronica set a hand down on Archie’s thigh, mischief in the curve of her lips and apart of the twinkle of her eyes. While slowly rubbing up and down his thigh, the wealthy girl said lowly, “Wanna come inside and up to my room?”

           

 

Archie smiled, biting his lip, feeling incredibly tempted. He leaned in to give the girl a peck on the lips. “I would but…” The neutral face of Josie flashed through his mind, Archie unable to keep his lips from forming a smile. Looking back up into his girlfriend’s curious face, Archie continued, “I wanna head back up to the school and get some songwriting done.”

           

 

Veronica tilted her head downwards in both surprise and delight, smiling at the handsome ginger. “I didn’t know you had gotten back to writing music again.”

           

 

Archie grinned, running a hand through his red locks. “Yeah, isn’t it great?” He beamed. “And it’s all thanks to Josie.”

           

 

The mention of Josie and her apparent hand in reigniting her boyfriend’s passion for songwriting weakened Veronica’s smile. Veronica looked down at her lap. “Josie, huh? I see.”

           

 

Archie was quick to catch on to the girl’s abrupt change in mood, furrowing his eyebrows. “What’s wrong, Ronnie?”

           

 

Veronica pulled her head back up, giving the sweet boy a smile in hopes of making the concern vanish from his eyes. When it worked like a charm, she replied, “I’m fine. So, how exactly did Josie help?”

           

 

Archie smiled, more than happy to give his girlfriend more details. Shaking his head, he said with a grin, “You know how Josie is. She’s got a sharp tongue but…”

           

 

Veronica stared at the boy that had stolen her heart, trying to ignore the painful feeling in her chest. He had looked off to the side after trailing off, a gentle smile on his face as he was no doubt thinking of Josie.

           

 

Archie blinked, chuckling sheepishly as he shook his head. “Sorry, Ronnie!” He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at having spaced out like that. “Josie… She comes off like a bit of a hard ass but she’s actually a really nice person.” Archie smiled down at his clasped hands. “Did I ever tell you that she stopped by the lounge just to try and help cheer me up after I blew it at the audition?”

           

 

Veronica bit her tongue, trying and greatly struggling to keep from lashing out at Archie. She looked away, internally cursing at the sting of tears coming from her eyes. “Wow.”

           

 

Archie traced the lines of his palms with his eyes. “I just really admire her.”

           

 

God, she needed to get out of this damn car. Veronica looked out the window, swallowing the lump in her throat. He talked about Josie with such fondness, a fondness that she never knew existed.

           

 

Archie looked back at his girlfriend, completely oblivious to her internal struggle, smiling at her turned away form. “And I just really wanna thank her somehow, ya know.”

           

 

Veronica cleared her throat, crossing her arms. “Really? What do you have in mind?”

           

 

Archie pursed his lips, drumming his fingers against the wheel. He shrugged. “I don’t know.” Archie chuckled. “But knowing her, if I tried doing something like getting her a shake at Pop’s on me, she’d say what she did was no big deal.”

           

 

Clearing her throat once more, Veronica unbuckled her seatbelt. “I’d better get inside.”

           

 

Archie smiled at her. “Yeah, okay.” He watched her step out of the vehicle, frowning slightly as he got the distinct feeling that his precious girlfriend was upset. He sat quietly in the driver’s seat as the beautiful girl walked up the sidewalk. Ronnie didn’t even turn back to wave goodbye like she normally did when she finally opened the door, worry and confusion settling within him as he stared at the closed door of her abode. Sighing, Archie turned the key inside the ignition.

           

 

Josie looked up from her notebook, unable to stop a small smile from appearing on her face in time as she met Archie’s kind gaze. “Hm, so you decided to drop by.”

           

 

“Hello to you, too,” Archie laughed, grinning at the girl as he sat down.

           

 

Josie fought back a smile, tucking a curl behind her ear as she picked up where she left off.

           

 

After ten minutes of brainstorming in silence, Archie took a break in the form of glancing up at Josie who was hard at work doing some songwriting of her own. He knew it was rude to stare but he just couldn’t look away from her. She was beyond focused right now, the petite beauty leant forward slightly, the gorgeous, kinky curls framing both sides of her perfect face falling ever so slightly into her eyes. He started when she let out a heavy sigh, feeling the hot flames of embarrassment in his face when Josie set a pair of annoyed eyes on him.

           

 

“I can’t concentrate with you staring like a weirdo, Andrews,” Josie said curtly.

           

 

Archie chuckled, looking down shyly. “Sorry.”

           

 

Josie found herself sighing again, rolling her eyes as she lowered her head, getting back to writing. “Well, spit out whatever it is on your mind so you can go back to being productive.”

           

 

 _She_ was actually the one on his mind but he certainly couldn’t say that aloud. “It’s just… In what way, can I thank you?”

           

 

Josie set her pen down, looking up at Archie with a raised eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

           

 

“You helped me get back into songwriting,” Archie elaborated.

           

 

Josie clicked her tongue, though a smile was a tugging at her full lips. “Gingerlake, it’s not that big of a deal.”

           

 

Archie let out a hearty laugh, beaming at Josie. “I know you so well. I just told Ronnie today that that was the exact thing you’d say.”

           

 

Josie blinked at the attractive boy, wondering why her heart had suddenly picked up. “Wait, you were talking about me to Veronica today?”

           

 

Archie smiled sweetly at her. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Archie wasn’t exactly sure what her lack of a reply meant but he said with a small laugh, “Don’t worry, it was all good things.” He paused, looking away briefly while biting his bottom lip. Giving her his attention again, he continued in a laughing tone, “Well, except the part about you being a bit of a hard ass. But don’t worry, I followed that up by saying you’re a really nice person.”

           

 

Josie wasn’t one to get tongue tied but she found it impossible to formulate a proper sentence right now, gaping at Archie. H-He couldn’t be serious, right? _This is Archie Andrews we’re talking about, McCoy. So of course he’s being serious. Oh god._ Josie cleared her throat awkwardly, frustrated at her sudden inability to look Archie in the eye as well as her racing heart.

           

 

Archie couldn’t help smiling. Shyness was a really cute look on Josie. He was glad he lived to see the day of her acting in such a way. Hm, but he wondered what had triggered this unusual behavior.

           

 

“You killed it at rehearsals today, by the way,” Archie complimented graciously.

           

 

Josie looked back up at him, choosing to not heed the fact that her throat was feeling dry. “Thanks.”

           

 

His gaze lost a bit of its cheerful spark but he remained smiling. “And for the record, I’m not as big a fan of Veronica and the Pussycats as I am _Josie_ and the Pussycats.”

           

 

Josie inhaled sharply, running a hand through her curls as she broke contact with his sincere eyes to stare down at the floor.

           

 

Archie bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, although he was unsuccessful with stopping a bigger smile from stretching across his face. She was adorable. “I just thought I should let you know.”

           

 

Josie sighed, putting her pen down as she raised her hands up toward her temple, massaging it to help keep her frustration in check. It had been a little bit over an hour and a half and she hadn’t written a single fuckin song. She glared over at Archie, the smiling musician innocently oblivious to her cold stare as his pen moved across his notebook. Ugh, damn him! She had been churning out songs just fine until his ass opened his big mouth and… Josie sighed, frowning down at her lap.

           

 

Archie paused from writing to check his phone. “Wow, time sure flew.” He closed his songwriting notebook, tucking it and his pen into his backpack. “Let me drive you home, Josie.”

           

 

 _Say no. You’ve had enough of his ass today._ “Fine, whatever.” She cursed her mouth for betraying her, grumpily stuffing her notebook into her bag before getting up to follow Archie out of the lounge.

           

 

Archie’s hand froze near the key, eyebrows downturned in thought as he stared at the key he had yet to turn. Pulling his hand back to his side, he looked over at Josie who had actually been in the middle of staring confusedly at him. She broke eye contact. Huh, that made three times she’d done that today. And each time it was cuter than the last.

           

 

“Hey, how about I start giving you a lift with Ronnie home?”

           

 

Josie turned her head back toward him to give him a disbelieving look.

           

 

Archie swatted off the urge to ball his fists, not trusting himself to not puncture his palms again. He slowly exhaled, hoping that his voice sounded level as he said, “After what happened with Chuck I just...”

           

 

His words were spoken softly but while normally there would be gentleness in every syllable, now there was just a quiet anger. And was that…guilt in his eyes? The intensity of his gaze was too much for her. She wanted to look away but she continued sitting there in the passenger seat, staring unblinkingly into his brown eyes.

           

 

“Next time I’ll protect you,” Archie vowed, flashing her a small smile. The smile stayed in place but his gaze suddenly hardened. “You won’t have to worry about him being a problem ever again.”

           

 

It was back. That same darkness in his eyes and voice that sent chills up her spine. Her breath hitched as his long fingers brushed a hair out of her eyes, her heart skipping a beat as he beamed at her.

**Author's Note:**

> To all who made it to the end of the fic, I hope y'all enjoyed it.:) Feedback of any kind is very much appreciated.:)


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